49264 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 13, 2013 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Limited Waivers. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a 

nationwide limited waiver of the Buy 

American requirements of section 1605 

of the Recovery Act under the authority 

of Section 1605(b)(2), (iron, steel, and 

the relevant manufactured goods are not 

produced in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality), 

with respect to Par 20, Par 30 and Par 

38 lamps (as specified infra) to be 

utilized in the San Antonio River Walk 

Project, being performed under a 

subgrant from an EERE-Recovery Act 

Funded State Energy Program (SEP) 

award. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt-Patrick, Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

(EERE), (202) 287–1553, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act), Public Law 111–5, section 

1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provision) 

if the iron, steel, or relevant 

manufactured good is not produced or 

manufactured in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

(‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the 

Secretary of Energy to make all 

inapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for 

Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), for EERE projects under 

the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order 

No. 00–002.01F, dated October 31, 2012. 

Pursuant to this delegation the Acting 

Assistant Secretary, EERE, has 

concluded that: Par 20, Par 30 and Par 

38 replacement lamps, that are both 

rated for outdoor open fixtures exposed 

to water and closed fixtures with heat 

concern, are dimmable, and meet ANSI 

# ANSI ANSLG C78.43–2007 

requirements are not produced or 

manufactured in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality. 

The above items, utilized in the San 

Antonio River Walk Project, being 

performed under a subgrant from an 

EERE-Recovery Act Funded State 

Energy Program (SEP) award, qualify for 

the ‘‘nonavailability’’ waiver 

determination at this time. 

EERE has developed a robust process 

to ascertain in a systematic and 

expedient manner whether or not there 

is domestic manufacturing capacity for 

the items submitted for a waiver of the 

Recovery Act Buy American provision. 

This process involves a close 

collaboration with the United States 

Department of Commerce National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP), in order to scour the 

domestic manufacturing landscape in 

search of producers before making any 

nonavailability determinations. 

The MEP has 59 regional centers with 

substantial knowledge of, and 

connections to, the domestic 

manufacturing sector. MEP uses their 

regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or 

potential manufacturers of the 

product(s) submitted in a waiver 

request. In the course of this interagency 

collaboration, MEP has been able to find 

exact or partial matches for 

manufactured goods that EERE grantees 

had been unable to locate. As a result, 

in those cases, EERE was able to work 

with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a 

waiver. 

Upon receipt of completed waiver 

request for the four products in the 

current waiver, EERE reviewed the 

information provided and submitted the 

relevant technical information to the 

MEP. The MEP then used their network 

of nationwide centers to scout for 

domestic manufacturers. The MEP 

reported that their scouting process did 

not locate any domestic manufacturers 

for these exact or equivalent items. 

In addition to the MEP collaboration 

outlined above, the EERE Buy American 

Coordinator worked with other 

manufacturing stakeholders to scout for 

domestic manufacturing capacity or an 

equivalent product for each item 

contained in this waiver. EERE also 

conducted significant amounts of 

independent research to supplement 

MEP’s scouting efforts, including 

utilizing the solar experts employed by 

the Department of Energy’s National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory. EERE’s 

research efforts confirmed the MEP 

findings that the goods included in this 

waiver are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality. 

The nonavailability determination is 

also informed by the inquiries and 

petitions to EERE from recipients of 

EERE Recovery Act funds, and from 

suppliers, distributors, retailers and 

trade associations—all stating that their 

individual efforts to locate domestic 

manufacturers for these items have been 

unsuccessful. 

The specific needs of this project 

cannot be met by current manufacturers 

of LED lamps in the United States. 

However, because of the evolving nature 

of LED manufacturing, the availability 

of products is anticipated to increase. 

As such EERE has chosen to issue a 

project-specific waiver for the San 

Antonio River Walk project only. Future 

requests will be considered on a caseby-case basis. 

Having established a proper 

justification based on domestic 

nonavailability, EERE hereby provides 

notice that on February 15, 2013, a 

nationwide categorical waiver of section 

1605 of the Recovery Act was issued for 

Par 20, Par 30 and Par 38 replacement 

lamps, that are both rated for outdoor 

open fixtures exposed to water and 

closed fixtures with heat concern, are 

dimmable, and meet ANSI # ANSI 

ANSLG C78.43–2007 requirements to be 

utilized in the San Antonio River Walk 

Project, being performed under a 

subgrant from an EERE-Recovery Act 

Funded State Energy Program (SEP) 

award. This notice constitutes the 

detailed written justification required by 

Section 1605(c) for waivers based on a 

finding under subsection (b). 

This waiver determination is pursuant 

to the delegation of authority by the 

Secretary of Energy to the Assistant 

Secretary for Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy with respect to 

expenditures within the purview of his 

responsibility. Consequently, this 

waiver applies to all EERE projects 

carried out under the Recovery Act. 

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 15, 

2013. 

David T. Danielson, 

Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

Editorial Note: This document was 

received at the Office of the Federal Register 

August 8, 2013. 

[FR Doc. 2013–19558 Filed 8–12–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 


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